By Lucky Isibor
The validation of the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo as the duly elected Governor of Edo State by the Supreme Court on Thursday, 10 July has been described as a welcome development by a cross section of Edo citizens.
Reacting to the verdict of the nation’s apex court, the Edo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Rt. Hon. Samson Osagie (Esq) said that the verdict of the Supreme Court which affirmed Senator Monday Okpebholo as the validly elected Governor of Edo State is significant in several respect as it has not only affirmed the confidence that the people of Edo State had in electing Governor Monday Okpebholo as the Governor of the state, but also a study in the nation’s electoral jurisprudence as it is the first time in the history of election petitions in Nigeria that election petition will go from the Election Petition Tribunal up to the Supreme Court without any of the levels of Court ruling otherwise and without any of the Judge or Justices that held that case and appeal dissenting.
On his part, the Acting Chairman of the Edo State Local Government Service Commission, Evangelist, Comrade Francis Akhigbe pointed out that the victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo at the governorship polls and the subsequent affirmation by all levels of Courts up to the Supreme Court is a vindication of Governor Okpebholo’s grassroot political interactions, adding that he worked hard for the victory.
In the words of the learned Attorney General, “First and foremost is to thank the Supreme Court and through the Supreme Court to the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Election Petitions Tribunal.
“As you will recall, all the three levels of Courts unanimously affirmed the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo as the validly elected Governor of Edo State and these decisions are significant in so many respect, one of it is that it has affirmed the confidence that the people of Edo State had on September 21, 2024 in electing Governor Monday Okpebholo. Of course in every electoral contest there are bound to be disagreement and that is why Asue Ighodalo and his party decided to go to court to challenge the victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo.
“So, this judgment is significant because it has now reaffirm the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo by the Edo people. And the implications are numerous for Edo people as their expectations remain high. In the last seven months Governor Monday Okpebholo has been on the saddle, he has demonstrated beyond doubt that he has the capacity to deliver on his electoral promises through the provision of infrastructures across all sectors through human capital development, improvement in small and medium-scale businesses, the education sector as you can see there is massive infrastructural development going on and there are also reforms going on in the security sector. As you can see, the fight against insecurity particularly kidnapping and cultism has reached its crescendo with the recent actions of government; in not only reenacting existing laws and making punishment stiffer, by taking decisive steps in order to stem the tide of these criminal activities.
“And of course Edo people are up for a very good deal in the next four years or three years and some months in the first instance and God willing, he will be able to do another four years to be able to concritise these things, the development strides that he has started. So, legally speaking, we have a validly elected Governor. We were not in doubt anyway from the very beginning that Governor Monday Okpebholo had a mandate of Edo people legally speaking and that the Independent National Electoral Commission did what they ought to do in accordance with the Electoral Act, and that is what the court said that the complaints of the petitioners were very loud as to the fact that the election was not conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act, that there was over voting, that there was no recording of serial numbers, but the court held that the evidence they adduced were not sufficient to prove their allegations. And if your evidence are not sufficient to prove your allegations, because the burden is on you that is alleging to prove. Section 135 of the Evidence Act is very clear on that. So, not having been able to prove their case against the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo, the Supreme Court and indeed other levels of Court have affirmed and dismissed their case.
“And the implication again is that for the first time, which is very significant, an election petition went from the Election Petition Tribunal up to the Supreme Court without any of the levels of Court ruling otherwise and without any of the Judge or Justices that held that case and appeal dissenting. At the tribunal level, all three Judges that presided over the election petition concured with the lead judgement, at the Court of Appeal level, all the five Justices of the Court of Appeal that held the appeal concured with the lead judgment and indeed at the Supreme Court level; all the five Justices concured with the lead judgement. So this election is significant in the history of our electoral jurisprudence and is a case that lawyers and practitioners, even political gladiators need to study very well for future reference.”
While noting that the outcome of the court verdict on the Edo governorship election was expected, the Acting Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, noted that, “The verdict of the Supreme Court is a welcome development, though some of us that have been following events know that it was going to come out this way.
“You know when a man works hard for a project even if the result has not come out he will be very expectant, that has been our stand. Senator Monday Okpebholo, the Executive Governor of Edo State from day one took the bull by the horns, moving round, combing the nook and crannies of Edo State, he never relented, infact he was on ground, even before this election, from the beginning, he has been a household name. So, when he came to contest everyone knew that he will be victorious. The results of the election came out, his opponents said they were not satisfied, they went to the tribunal, the tribunal did it the way we expected it in accordance with the matter presented before the tribunal.
“They were still not satisfied, they went to the Court of Appeal, they got the same result, validating the victory of Governor Okpebholo in the election. So, the Supreme Court just did justice to it yesterday. And maybe the people who doesn’t know who Governor Monday Okpebholo is will doubt if he actually won that election, but some of us who were on ground from the beginning, from the primaries to the campaigns and all the processes, it would have been shocking to us if it was a different verdict yesterday.”
On the reaction of immediate past Governor of the state, Mr. Godwin Obaseki descring the judgment as being far from fair and resigning it to God, Akhigbe said.
“We were not expecting anything different from former Governor Obaseki, because with his antecedents, we know him, he will never see it the way the majority of Edo people will see it. We are also aware that because of desperation he wouldn’t have said anything otherwise, but Edo people know the truth, that who worked, who reached out to the grassroot people got the victory. So, what ever he is saying doesn’t really matter. Edo people did their best, but he was trying to set the wheel of progress back. Thank God the Supreme Court said no, they’ve seen it all and I can assure you Edo will be better.”
On what Edo people should expect from Governor Okpebholo’s administration after the Supreme Court judgement which has finally laid all legal challenges on the election to rest, the duo of the Attorney General and Acting Chairman of Local Government Service Commission are urging Edo people to watch out for more developments, provision of more infrastructures, human capital development, improved health care delivery and educational services amongst other developments that will improve the lots Edo people.
According to Osagie, Edo people should expect, “Good governance, delivery of people oriented services, human capital development, more infrastructures for Edo State, improvement in health care delivery and educational services and indeed better life for Edo people in the next four to eight years under Governor Monday Okpebholo. And we are committed, by the special grace of God to ensure a regime based on the tenants of the rule of law and again, things done in accordance with extant provisions of existing laws in our state.
While urging Edo people to expect more developments from Governor Okpebholo, Comrade Akhigbe assured that the era of cutting corners in government is over as the present administration has zero tolerance for cutting corners.
In his words, “It’s more development, the Governor has started it, everybody will follow suit. This is not an era of doing it the way it suits you, if you don’t work in this government, then you’ll be shown the way out and the Governor is leading by example, so we are not expecting anything less; we will follow the foot steps of the Governor of Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo, because he has opened the door for Edo people to know that somebody that has the fear of God can do it. He will never cut corners, so anybody who is willing to move Edo State forward should not cut corners. There’s already a leading sample and that leading sample is Senator Monday Okpebholo, the Governor and we’re proud of him, we know he will take Edo State to greater heights and some of us that believe totally in him will follow suit. If you observe him, whatever he has said, he has done them. He doesn’t talk any how, this is not a matter of running mouth, he is carrying out actions and getting the results. What have you brought to the table? That’s what this government is about and that’s what some of us following him are doing. By the grace of God, am the acting Chairman here, and as long as we remain here, there will be nothing like cutting corners, we will do it the way it should be. Everyone will not be satisfied when you’re doing the right thing, they want it their own way, cut and nail. We will not support cut and nail, we must follow due process to carry out our duties and that, by the grace of God is what we’re doing.”
However, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election and petitioner, Asue Ighodalo (Esq) and the immediate past Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki described the Supreme Court judgment as far from being fair.